MILLER/CAMDEN COUNTIES - State and local officials will gather on Tuesday, Jan. 18 to celebrate the beginning of a project to construct a new four-lane highway connecting U.S. 54 in Miller County to the Lake of the Ozarks Community Bridge toll facility on Route MM in Camden County. The new roadway will be known as Route 242.

The groundbreaking will be held in the parking lot of Paul's Supermarket, located at 2107 Bagnell Dam Blvd. in Lake Ozark at 11 a.m. The public is invited to attend the event.

Bloomsdale Excavating Company, Inc. of Bloomsdale, Mo. was awarded the construction contract after submitting the low bid of $8,337,512.67. The project is being paid for by the Missouri Department of Economic Development and the Missouri Department of Transportation.

If the weather permits, work on the nearly two-mile long project will start this month and take about a year to complete. The roadway will include a raised center median, as well as curb and gutter for drainage. An eight-foot-wide sidewalk will be constructed on the north side of the roadway.

For more information about this project or other transportation-related matters, please call 1-888-ASK-MoDOT (275-6636) or log onto www.modot.org/central.